Stacked Area Chart

Key points

A Stacked Area Chart is the extension of a basic area chart. It displays the evolution of a numerical value for several groups on the same chart, stacked on top of each other.
Example Area Chart

Best Practices

Stacked area charts allow the user to see how the whole behaves across time. However, stacked area charts may be misleading for the progression of individual groups within the whole. An individual may be progressing upwards but seem to be diminishing in comparison to the progress of the other groups in the chart.

Use:

  • When there are six or more time periods to compare
  • When you are communicating an overall trend, not specific values
  • To show the rise and fall of data series over time
  • When all data has a relationship with zero

Don't Use:

  • When the differences between the data are small
  • When there is only a single data series
  • When several series of data show volatile changes

Quick Build Notes

  1. Select Area Chart as the Visualization Type.
  2. Upload your data.
  3. Type in the Title and other text fields in the General tab.
  4. Set the Chart Subtype to Stacked in the General tab.
  5. Select the Data Series.
  6. Set the Date/Category Axis.

Configuration Options

The example visualizations below highlight options available for stacked area charts. Key configuration selections are in the build notes section under each example.

For in-depth configuration information visit the Configuration Options section.

Example Stacked Area Chart

Use the stacked area chart to show progress as a whole.

Sample Data: Example Stacked Area Chart

Data Format
  • Vertical
  • Multiple series: yes
  • Multiple Rows
  • Row is describing Year
  • Category/date axis is B-value
  • Numeric attribute is Value
General
Chart Subtype: Stacked
Data Series
  • C-value
  • B-value
  • A-value
Date/Category Axis
Data Scaling: Categorical (Linear Scaling)
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Content Source:
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